Avengers 2: James Spader on Ultron; Scarjo Talks ‘Taking it to the Streets’

The Avengers: Age of Ultron is undoubtedly one of the more highly-anticipated sequels of all time. The official title for the upcoming sequel was announced at San Diego Comic Con earlier this summer, along with a teaser trailer that has finally been released on the internet. While the trailer only revealed the title for the superhero epic, the villain mentioned in the title – to be played by James Spader – was all fans needed to know to get excited.

A month ago, Marvel revealed that veteran film and television actor, James Spader, would be playing the role of Ultron in The Avengers: Age of Ultron. In a recent interview promoting his new series, The Blacklist, Spader shared some information about the preparation for the role of Ultron.

“I have spoken to Joss Whedon about it, and yes, actually, just this weekend I went in for them to take very extensive photographs, head scans, body scans, and all kinds of things in preparation for figuring out how the hell I’m gonna fit in this Ultron character!”

This seems like something of a confirmation that James Spader won’t just be providing the voice work for the evil sentient robot Ultron, but that he’ll also be physically acting out the part. Does that mean there will be extensive use of CGI/motion capture or practical effects?

Presumably, there will be some amount of CGI, but Spader’s comment about “figuring out how the hell” he’s going to “fit” inside Ultron may indicate that he’ll be wearing some kind of physical suit for at least part of the film (a la Iron Man).

Spader also talked to The Independent about his excitement about joining the sequel:

“I think it’ll be a lot of fun and it’s incredibly nostalgic for me. When I was a kid my best friend had trunks of comics and I didn’t have any so I used to love going for sleepovers at his house. Also, I have three sons and two of them have a great interest in comics so they’re excited I’m playing the role.”

A couple weeks back, Whedon revealed his reasons for choosing Spader to play Ultron and it’s good to know that not only has he found a fantastic actor to play the part, but that Spader also seems very excited about it. Spader has never played a character with such a built-in fanbase, so it’ll be interesting to see his interpretation of the famous comic villain.

Spader isn’t the only Avengers star to provide some information on the the sequel. Scarlett Johansson, who plays Black Widow in the Marvel Universe, provided some vague comments about the production of the film to Interview Magazine.

“We’ll be shooting that in January. I think we’re taking it to the streets this time, I think we’re going overseas.”

Taking it to the streets? It’s not as though the Avengers didn’t “take it to the streets” in the first film, so we wonder what she means by that. As for her other comments – we’ve known for a while that production would be going overseas, but this may be the first time we’ve heard that January will be the start date.

Along with Hawkeye, Black Widow didn’t receive as much screen time as the other Avengers in the first outing. With a very large and talented cast, it’s hard for everyone to get an even amount of screen time. Hopefully, we’ll see Black Widow in a larger role this time around, as Whedon is known for writing strong female characters.

Are you looking forward to Age of Ultron, Screen Rant readers? Let us know in the comments.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron is scheduled to hit theaters May 1st, 2015. We’ll keep you updated on all things Marvel when it becomes available.